Motor City Rides

By some miraculous fluke, Shady recording artist and Em’ protégé Obie Trice survived a shot to the head Dec. 31 while driving on the Lodge Freeway. You’ll recall that he then drove himself to Southfield’s Providence Hospital, where doctors decided it was safer to not remove the bullet. What’s more, Trice has finished his sophomore release, Second Round’s On Me, not long after the shooting. (The album, which dropped in August, has sold a quarter of a million copies so far.)

But just think: If only Trice had been driving this Ford 2005 SYNus last New Year’s Eve he might’ve been safe from the bullet. Like an armored car, the SYNus’ protective shutters cover the windshield and side windows when parked, and the rear door is opened with a four-spoke spinner like you would see on a bank vault. The inside of the door features a 42-inch LCD screen for, well, whatever; movies, video games or the Internet. Ford designers view the interior as an urban sanctuary. Says Obie of the SYNus, “If they ever make it bulletproof, let me know. I can use one of those, if you know what I mean.”